Congo's Ebola outbreak in 'new phase' after urban case

Irving Peterson |Thursday, May 17, 2018

Ebola outbreak spreads to urban area as deaths mount

The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced the finding, after laboratory tests conducted by the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) confirmed one specimen as positive for EVD.

Thousands of doses of Ebola vaccine have arrived the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the country battles outbreak of the disease.

Nkengasong also added the virus is for sure in a remote area of that country, challenging the health personnelÂ´s deployment and the necessary supplies, which have raised major concern.

Oly Ilunga Kalenga said a case of the virus was detected in Mbandaka, a city with a population of about 1 million people. As per the report, epidemiologists are working to identify additional contacts to the 500 already identified.

Authorities said they were tracing all air, river, and road routes in and out of the city to find the source of the virus.

Ebola is a serious infectious illness that causes internal bleeding and often proves fatal.

She says two cases of Ebola are confirmed, 20 are probable and 20 are suspected. The Health Ministry said vaccinations would start by early next week, the first time the vaccine would come into use since it was developed two years ago.

The worst-ever Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in southern Guinea before spreading to neighbouring west African countries Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing more than 11,300 people out of almost 29,000 registered cases.

Until now, all the confirmed Ebola cases were reported from Bikoro health zone, which is also in Equateur Province but at a distance of almost 150 km from Mbandaka.

Supplies sent to Congo included more than 300 body bags for safe burials in affected communities.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's relationship
"I've been popping Valium for the pain, especially when I hear about my oldest daughter", Markle Sr. reportedly told TMZ . The announcement was met with an outpouring of support for both Ms Markle and her father on social media.

Amazon Alexa skills is getting 8 new voices
Now it looks like Amazon is doing something similar to what Google has done, except that they're taking it a step further. English voices, which means it could be some time before multi-voice Alexa Skills make their way to Canada.